Knitting machine



Nov. 7, 1950 H, WQOLLEY 2,5292)? KNITTING MACHINE Filed Dec. 24, 1946 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 F/ G. l

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mnswar' MW AGENT Nov. 7, 1950 Filed Dec. 24, 1946 Nov. 7, 1950 WQOLLEY 2,529,207

KNITTING MACK- IN Filed Dec. 24, 1946 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 AGENT Patented Nov. 7, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Application December 24, 1946, Serial No. 718,156

In-Great Britain June 11, 1945 6 Claims; (01. 66-128) This invention is for improvements in knitted fabrics and knitting machines and has particular but not exclusivereference to the manufacture of intarsia or argyll patterns on straight barknitting machines of the Cottons Patent type. An object of the invention is to improve the appearance of such patterns; another object is to provide improved mechanismfor producing such patterns by automatic means.

It is already known to provide in said machines a plurality of thread carriers mounted on carrier rods with means for shogging said carriers in the direction of the needle row and at right angles thereto. Ifthe traverse of one carrier rod is first progressively increased and then decreased whilst the traverse of another carrier rod is first progressively decreased and then increased a series of diamonds is produced; an embroidery thread may be knitted over the diamonds to produce well known argyll patterns in known manner. Heretcfore the fabric atthe junction of each diamond with the next succeeding diamond has been somewhat thick or bulky because at such junction at least one loop in each course has been composed of two threads (one from each of the two carriers).

An important object of the present invention is to reduce this bulk-mess and as viewed'from one aspect the invention provides a straight-bar knittingmachine arranged for the production of intarsia fabric, having two carrier rods, each, equipped with carriers, capable of being traversed in the same direction to supply their threads to the needles in each course and of being shogged simultaneously in opposite directions at the end of the traverse, characterised by the provision of means for shogging one rod through one needle space in one direction and the other rodthrough two needle spaces in the opposite direction while the carriers are at the back orplain side of the needles. As viewed from another aspect the invention provides in a straight-bar knitting machine arranged for the production of intarsia fabric, having two carrier rods, each equipped with a plurality of spaced carriers, for traversing simultaneously in the same direction to supply their threads to needles in each course, means for moving said carriers from the front to the back of the needle line at the end of each traverse, means for shogging one ,rod through one needle space in one direction and the other through two needle spaces in the other direction while said carriers are at the back, and means for then re turning said carriers to the front of the needle line preparatory to the next traverse. The carriers. that are being narrowed may be shogged two needle spaces and the carriers that are being widened may be shogged one needle space.

As viewed from another aspect, the invention provides a straight-bar knitting machine arranged for the production of intarsia fabric (e. g. a machine as specified in the preceding paragraph) havinglmounting member in which the rods are mounted for reciprocation, means for imparting movements of partial rotation to said members to swing thecarriers from one side of the needle line to the other, and means for shifting said members :bodily to raise the carriers clear of the sinkers. There may be slide blocks which said members are mounted for partial rotationand guides in which the slide blocks are side (or back) of the needles, of the carrier shogging mechanism provided at theleft hand end of the machine (and also serves, to illustrate the corresponding mechanism provided at the right hand end thereof); i

Figure 3 is an elevation of said mechanism looking from the front or bearded side of the needles; V

. Figure 4 illustrates aportion of fabric (looking on the rear face thereof) and the carrier movements for producing it, a

In Figure 1 the needles are indicated at I and the sinkers at ,2. The machine is provided with a plurality of carrier rods here shown as being fourin number andnumbered 6a, 3b, 3c and 3d. The rodsBa and 3b are employed for producing the intarsia fabric and are therefore provided with a" series of yarn carriers (one for each diamond) respectively numbered 4a, 4b. The carriers 4c, id provided on the rods 30, 3d are employed to'introduce the embroidery threads in the production of argyll patterns.

At, suitabl intervals in theilength Gfilh B Inachine these rods are slidably mounted in, mounting members 5 constituted by cylindrical blocks and areireciprocated ,thereinin the usual manner through one or more friction boxes driven by a Coulier or draw mechanism, the amplitude of traverse being adjusted by end stops in the manner hereinafter described. Each cylindrical block 5, is rotatably mounted in a slide block 6 and the latter is displaceable vertically in guides 1 formed by the forked upper end of a suitable bracket 8 on frame member 9.

The arrangement is such that during each draw or traverse of the carrier rods, the slide blocks 6 are in a raised position whereat the carriers are above the sinkers 2 and then at the end of each draw the cylindrical blocks are partly rotated and lowered so as to swing the carriers across the needle line and between the needles from the beard side thereof into a position whereat the yarn is laid in the throats of the sinkers. When in this position the rods 3a and 3b are shogged in opposite directions, one through one needle space and the other through two needle spaces so that the yarn fed by each carrier of one set is lapped at the back of one needle and the yarn fed by each carrier of the other set is lapped at the back of two needles. The blocks 5 are then rotated in the opposite direction to swing the carriers through the needles to the front side thereof and the slide blocks 6 are raised. These movements are produced by cams on the main cam shaft l0. Slide blocks 6 are connected by links H to truck levers l2 operable by cams l3, while the cylindrical blocks 5 are connected by straps I4 and lever mechanism if to truck levers l6 operable by cams H.

The shogging movement of-the rods 3a, 3b is produced in the following manner. At each end of the machirie there is a pair of stops Mia, 48b adjustable respectively by stepped cams Hm, 5%. The cams at a given end of the machine are stepped in opposite directions so that one rises while the other falls. Thus, for example, while the cam I9a at the left hand end of the machine rotates in such manner as to shog rod 3a to the right in Figure 2 that cam which, at the right hand end of the machine, is the equivalent of cam I91) rotates in such a direction as to shog rod'3b to the left. These cams are so arranged that while the traverse of one rod increases and then decreases in the production of spaced diamonds the traverse of the other rod decreases and then increases as is required in the well known argyll pattern. The cams at each end of the machine may be racked by any suitable mechanism and Figure 3 shows a rack wheel 26 and a pawl 2|.

For the purpose of producing consecutive diamonds of different colours each time one rod completes a set of diamonds it is necessary to displace that rod bodily through a distance equal to the width of a diamond before it commences the next set of diamonds. Assuming that the rod in question is rod 3b, at each end of the machine there is a distance piece 22 which may be interposed between the end of the rod and its associated stop 18b. The length of this distance piece is equivalent to the width of a diamond. Thus, for example, if the distance piece at the right hand end of the machine is removed and that at the left hand end is inserted during the traverse of the rod 3b to the right, Figure 2, the rod is thereafter caused to traverse over a different group of needles. The mechanism for raising and lowering the distance piece 22 at each end of the machine is best shown in Figure 3 and comprises a cam 23 racked round by a rack wheel 24 and pawl 25'the said pawl being normally held 4 inoperative by a spring 26 co-operating with a control rod 21 but being periodically moved into operative position by studs 28 carried by a chain 29 and acting on the end of the rod 21. This chain 29 is racked round with the cams I9a, l9b.

At the upper part of Figure 4 there is shown the narrowed upper part of one diamond flanked by the widened lower parts of two adjacent diamonds, the yarn of which the first mentioned diamond is composed being shaded in order to render that diamond visually distinctive. The said diamond is produced by a representative carrier on a rod which, throughout the courses shown, has its traverse progressively reduced and may therefore be termed the narrowing rod. The two flanking diamonds are produced by two of the carriers on the other rod, which, in the courses shown has its traverse progressively increased, may be termed the widening rod. At the end of each traverse or draw of the rods, the widening rod is shogged through one needle space (to widen the diamonds produced by its carriers) and the narrowing rod is shogged through two needle spacesin the opposite direction of the needles (to narrow the diamonds produced by its carriers) while the carriers are at the plain side. Thus, for example considering carriers 4a as being widening carriers and carrier 4b as being a representative narrowing carrier it will be seen thatin course A, at the end of the traverse to the right the carriers are swung to the plain side of the needles and while the widening carriers 4a are shogged through one needle space in the widening direction the narrowing carrier 41) is shogged through two needle spaces in the narrowing direction. Considering the right hand juncture, as a result of these movements the first needle which knits the yarn from the narrowing carrier 42) in the next course B is spaced two needle spaces inwards (i. e. to the left) of the last needle which knitted said yarn in course A. The loops thus produced are indicated at 30 and BI, loop 30 being a duplex loop knitted of both yarns and loop 3! of one yarn only which latter floats at 32 at the back of the fabric between the two loops. At the end of the traverse to the left in the next course B the narrowing carrier 4b is shogged two needle spaces to the right (in a narrowing direction) while at the back of the needles, while the widening carriers 4a are shogged one needle space to the left (in a widening direction). This results in there being one duplex loop 30 in course B, at the left hand juncture, which is knitted of two yarns. If the carrier traverse is adjusted at every course a duplex loop (30 or 30') appears in each juncture only at every second course and at every second wale, and it will readily be appreciated that by virtue of the spacing of the duplex loops the joint is much less bulky than if a duplex loop appears in every wale and every course of the juncture.

I claim:

1. In a straight bar knitting machine arranged for the production of intarsia fabric and having a line of needles and a plurality of thread carrier rods, the combination of a plurality of thread carriers mounted on each rod and having threads thereon adapted to be supplied to the needles at the front side thereof, means for positioning the threads associated with any two of the rods at locations suitable for supplying the threads to the needles at the rear thereof when the rods are next moved in a direction of the line of needles, means for shogging one of the two rods,

while the threads are positioned as stated, in

one direction of the line of needles to the extent of the distance between adjacent needles, and for shogging the other rod in the opposite direction to the extent of twice the said distance, and means for repositioning the said threads after the rods have been shogged, at suitable locations to be again supplied to the needles at the front thereof.

2. In a method for the production of intarsia fabric on a straight bar knitting machine the step of shogging one set of thread carriers so that each carrier passes one needle only in the direction of the line of needles while the thread guiding parts of the carriers are at the rear of the needles, and shogging the other set of carriers in the opposite direction so that each carrier passes two needles while said thread guiding parts of the carriers are at the rear of the needles.

3. In a built-in straight-bar knitting machine for directly producing intarsia fabric in a single operation as a normal function of the machine as a whole, said machine'having a line of needles and a plurality of thread-carrier rods, the combination of a plurality of thread-carriers mounted on each thread-carrier rod; there being threads on the thread-carriers adapted to be supplied to the needles; means for periodically positioning the threads associated with any two of the carrier rods at locations suitable for supplying the threads to the needles at the rear side thereof when the rods are next moved in a direction of the line of needles; means effective while the threads are disposed as stated for shogging the one of the two rods involved in one direction of the line of needles to the extent of the distance between two adjacent needles and for shogging the other one of the two rods in the opposite direction to the extent of twice the mentioned distance; and means effective after the rods have been shogged for repositioning said threads at suitable locations to be again supplied to the needles at the front side thereof.

4. In a built-in straight-bar knitting machine for directly producing intarsia fabric in a single operation as a normal function of the machine as a Whole, said machine having a line of needles and two thread-carrier rods, the combination of a plurality of thread-carriers mounted on each thread-carrier rod; there being threads on the thread-carriers adapted to be supplied to the needles; means for periodically moving threadguiding portions of the carriers from the front to the rear of the needle line; means for then shogging one of the rods in one direction of the line of the needles to the extent of the distance between two adjacent needles and for shogging the other rod in the opposite direction to the extent of twice the mentioned distance; and means for thereafter returning the thread-guiding portions of said thread-carriers to the front side of the needle line preparatory to operation through a succeeding cycle.

5. In a built-in straight-bar knitting machine for directly producing intarsia fabric in a single operation as a normal function of the machine as a whole, said machine having a line of needles and a plurality of thread-carrier rods, the combination of a plurality of thread-carriers mounted on each thread-carrier rod; there being threads on the thread-carriers adapted to be supplied to the needles; means for periodically positioning the threads associated with any two of the carrier rods at locations suitable for supplying the threads to the needles at the rear side thereof when the rods are next moved in a direction of the line of needles; means for shogging one of the two rods involved with simultaneous widening thereof, while the threads are positioned as stated, in one direction of the line of needles to the extent of the distance between two adjacent needles and for shogging the other one of said two rods with simultaneous narrowing thereof in the opposite direction to the extent of twice the mentioned distance; and means effective after the rods have been shogged for repositioning said threads at suitable locations to be again supplied to the needles at the front side thereof.

6. In a built-in straight-bar knitting machine for directly producing intarsia fabric in a single operation as a normal function of the machine as a whole, said machine having a line of needles and a plurality of thread-carrier rods, the combination of a plurality of thread-carriers mounted on said rods, there being threads on the threadcarriers adapted to be supplied to the needles; a

support having vertical guide members; a slide lock mounted for vertical sliding movement on the support between said guide members; a cylindrical block forming mounting means individually mounted in said slide block for partial rotary movement; and driven means for vertically elevating the slide block upon said support and also imparting partial rotary movement to said cylindrical block about'a horizontal axis in order to swing the thread-carriers and thereby cause the thread guiding ends thereof to move from one side of the needle line to the other.

GEORGE H. WOOLLEY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,401,720 Nebel Dec. 27, 1921 1,781,933 Rolston Nov. 18, 1930 2,216,051 Smith Sept. 24, 1940 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 285,748 Great Britain Feb. 23, 1928 

